Event Calendar

Rieth Chamber Series: Julien Labro, bandoneon, & Spektral Quartet

Spektral Quartet and bandoneon/accordion virtuoso Julien Labro unveil their
vivid debut album on Azica Records, From This Point Forward this
May 17th at
the Goshen College Music Center. Through it, Labro and Spektral Quartet set
out to amplify and extend the string quartet + bandoneon repertoire beyond
the beloved canon of Astor Piazzolla and it is difficult to think of a more
beautiful acoustic than Goshen College's Sauder Concert Hall for this launch.

"Jazz," "contemporary classical" or "tango" are genre labels far too
cramped to encapsulate the music of Argentine composer/pianist Fernando
Otero, whose "De Ahora En Más" is featured on the record. Breathless fugues,
opaque chord clusters and circular grooves here have a tincture of tango, but
the language has evolved into something much more risky. Also hailing from
Buenos Aires, composer/pianist Diego Schissi has similarly transformed the
tango vernacular with tunes like the irrepressible "Líquido 5." Perhaps it can
best be summed up in the composer's own words, in email correspondence
with Labro and the quartet: "It is display of Full Power, a forceful
demonstration of energy...edgy and a bit uncontrolled."

Labro and the Spektral Quartet began their collaboration after being
serendipitously paired for Northwestern University's Big Squeeze accordion
summit. With Piazzolla as their point of departure, the group immediately
began sleuthing for more recent scores. Crafting many of the arrangements
himself, Labro moved across the Argentine borders, embracing the
progressive voices of Hermeto Pascoal (think the Brazilian Frank Zappa) and
Miguel Zenón (Puerto Rico, New York), who appears as guest soloist on the
album.

With From This Point Forward, Julien Labro and the Spektral
Quartet will
introduce American audiences to a largely-unheard corner of new South
American repertoire, and will continue to ask, What comes next?

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in Sauder Concert Hall. Tickets:
$15, general admission. $5 for Goshen College faculty/staff/students.
Available via the Welcome Center: (574) 535-7566.